After Li Yu came back from Xiyuan this time, Cixi gave him a task to teach Si Gege how to use a telescope. It seemed that Lafayette really wanted to see the lunar eclipse.
It will definitely not take too long for Si Gege to leave the palace. Time is tight and the tasks are heavy. Fortunately, she is not a lady, otherwise it would be really inconvenient for Li Yu to teach her.
There is not much technical difficulty in using the telescope. After all, it is impossible for Cixi to use it to search for extragalactic galaxies. It is just more fresh pictures. It only took Li Yu more than two hours to fully explain how to use it to Si Gege, and also allowed her to observe Jupiter and Venus.
In fact, such a simple thing could have been done in an hour, but it had been too long since a man had been around to talk to her at such a close distance. There was a vague barrier in Si Gege's heart. She had to keep her distance and listen to his lectures at the same time. . It made me feel uncomfortable and weird. I wasn't so serious about listening to the lectures and would get lost in my thoughts from time to time.
But Li Yu really just wanted to explain the instructions to her, because even if Si Gege was a beauty, he definitely didn't want to have anything to do with the women in the palace.
But distance brings beauty, and Li Yu's distance made Si Gege feel that Li Yu was a tall and upright gentleman.
After finishing talking about telescopes, Li Yu and Zai Zhen placed the large package of Watsons cosmetics and perfume in front of her. Zai Zhen smiled and said: "Sister, when you go back, tell the queen that she will pour it into the tub when you take a shower." The last bottle will definitely smell better than any other minister’s wife!”
"Use this much at one time? The effect should be very good." Si Gege is also a person who doesn't care about money.
"It's working, anyway, the queen is already..." Li Yu stopped quickly when he said it. Originally, he wanted to say that the queen was hopeless. Only if he could return to the Bangzi Kingdom in the 21st century would there be a chance, so he changed it to: "The queen already has outstanding temperament, so this is definitely the icing on the cake."
Since Li Yudu said so, Si Gege has nothing to worry about. With the addition of a "Fragrant Concubine" in the palace, Watsons' Beijing branch will also have an additional supply channel in the future...
The next day, Li Yu was about to go out for dinner when he opened the door and saw the old man and his son whom he had rescued from Xiaodao Liu.
"Do you need help?" Li Yu asked.
The old man took out the more than ten taels of silver that Li Yu had given him from his arms and said, "My benefactor, why don't you take this money back."
Li Yu didn't know why, and thought they wanted to ask for more money, but he didn't expect that they wanted to return it to him. What's the reason? "You can keep it, old man!"
The old man grinned: "Old man, I want to ask my benefactor to do something, but I only have the money you gave me."
Li Yu said: "You just say it's okay, I won't take the money back."
The old man took the child next to him and said, "My dear friend, I know that you are a scholar and a learned person. I also understand that only by studying can you avoid being hungry all your life. So I hope that this child can go to school. This money will be enough for me." If it’s not enough to pay for the children’s tuition, I’ll find a way.”
Li Yu took a look and saw that the money he had given him had hardly been touched at all. It was obvious that the old man had made up his mind.
"Okay, I'll take care of this. You can keep the money, because I know a place where you don't have to pay tuition."
The old man asked in surprise: "You don't need to pay tuition?"
The old man was not penniless from the beginning, and he knew it in his heart. At that time, for ordinary private schools in the Qing Dynasty, although many were supported by the government or local gentry, the tuition fee was almost equivalent to about 100 kilograms of wheat, which was the yield of one acre of land.
In the late Qing Dynasty, land annexation was serious. How much land was left for ordinary farmers? A large number of farmers even became tenant farmers of landlords, and they could hardly afford so much food to pay for a child's tuition. Because 100 kilograms of wheat is almost equivalent to half a year's ration for a poor and lower-middle peasant.
For them, this is not a question of whether to learn or not, but a question of whether to live or not.
Li Yu squatted next to the little boy and asked, "Do you want to learn Western learning?"
The little boy was a little timid, "What is Western learning? I only know the Four Books and Five Classics."
Li Yu said: "Western learning is about why the sky is blue, why there is birth, aging, sickness and death, why everything exists in the world; and how to make strong ships and cannons, how to make bullets and trains, and how to prevent us from being bullied. That's pretty much it, you Want to learn?"
The little boy listened with fascination: "Brother, I want to learn!"
Li Yu patted his head: "But you must know that if you learn Western learning, you will not be able to obtain fame and become a high official."
The little boy hesitated and said firmly: "I don't want to be a high official! I just want to stop letting my father starve."
Li Yu laughed loudly: "If you learn well, not only will your father not have to go hungry, but even more people will not go hungry. But this is not simple, because you still have to learn the Four Books and Five Classics, and you still have to understand etiquette, justice and morality. At the same time, you have to learn all kinds of Western learning, and you have to endure a lot of hardships."
The little boy smiled innocently: "Brother, no matter how painful it is, can it be as painful as Guanyin Tu?"
Li Yu was stunned. Yes, he said it for a long time. In fact, to him, the hardship of study is nothing compared with the hardship of life.
It's like being in heaven!
"It's not hard! Remember the words of my elder brother, be a human being first, then be a scholar!"
The little boy nodded, "I remember."
Li Yu stood up and said, "Come with me."
There are not many Western schools in the Qing Dynasty, and the ones that are available are mostly in the concessions or places with a large number of foreigners such as Guangzhou and Shanghai. So it was really not easy to go to a Western school in Beijing in the late Qing Dynasty. It was even harder to go to a school that started recruiting students from elementary school.
Fortunately, Li Yu happened to know one, and the original principal was an old acquaintance—Ding Haoliang.
Ding Haoliang came to Beijing very early. Before he became the chief teacher of Tongwen Museum, he founded a missionary school for out-of-school children - Beijing Chongshi School. This school continues to this day, but its name has changed to Beijing No. 21 Middle School.
The three of them came to Tongwen Hall and found Ding Haoliang. After Li Yu expressed his intention, Ding Haoliang immediately agreed. He solemnly said to the little boy: "Are you sure you want to study, and you won't drop out, be late, or violate school rules? "
The little boy said: "I want to study, and I will never drop out of school, be late, or violate school rules!"
Ding Haoliang smiled and said, "Very good, I hope you can stick to it."
In fact, Chongshi School is not really free, but the fees are relatively low, only 2 cents a year, which is more than one tael of silver. It's just that Li Yu secretly winked at Ding Haoliang and told him to skip the matter.
Moreover, for Li Yu's sake, Ding Haoliang said that the school will no longer charge food and housing fees.
The old man thanked him so much that he was moved to tears. If Li Yu hadn't supported him, he would have knelt down.
